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A nice week for the Abandoned Trash

Agree on all points. In this particular game they had already given up the puck so much it was sheer idiocy to pull the goalie at all. Given that, the message from the coaching staff was that with over 3 minutes left they felt the game was already lost.

The Sabres don’t regularly score in any situation.

I've always thought Allen isn't the same QB when he's not a legitimate run threat. I haven't watched a lot yet this year (including today), but from what I've seen, there hasn't been many designed plays with him running. For the few times they've tried it, it wasn't effective. When defenses aren't respecting the run threat his receivers aren't able to get open like they do when he's more active.

If crappy teams keep failing to score with the goalie pulled eventually the Analytics are going to say not to do it. Generalized statistics should not eliminate other inputs. In my mind they pulled the goalie too early in that circumstance because they had been getting some chances 5 on 5. Maybe I am wrong but the analytics are not stagnant. Very few teams used to pull a goalie in a 1 goal game until under 2 minutes. Now that they do it and the other team expects them to do it. The advantage becomes less and may even come to the point where they say don't do it at all. There is no right answer in a 1 game isolated circumstance. We could have won or lost either way. I would not blame a coach for going against an analytical indicator if they felt other circumstances told them not to.

I’m not the GM, coach, or owner. I do think the should put better players around Allen, and they haven’t done that yet.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/09/cleveland-guardians-pitchers-indicted-gambling.html Two pitchers from the Cleveland Guardians were indicted on charges related to a sports betting and money laundering conspiracy, federal prosecutors announced Sunday, the latest scandal tied to gambling across professional sports. According to the indictment, Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz took bribes as part of a scheme to rig bets on pitches thrown during Major League Baseball games. Prosecutors say the scheme started in May 2023 with Clase and then later included Ortiz. The two players — who face federal charges of fraud, conspiracy and bribery — were placed on leave by MLB officials in July as the league conducted a gambling investigation. They face a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of the top charges.

Josh has 4-5 years of prime left. I’m now seriously scared they are going to waste his career. Good but not great surrounding him. That’s not going to get it done. McDermott and Beane built this team to where it is and turned this dead franchise around but not good enough to get us through all the way it seems. I will just add it’s criminal to send him out there with a subpar WR corps. He was better off with Diggs, Beasley, and Brown. He’s back to where he was his rookie year.

How many years of Josh Allen are you willing to waste? 1 more , 2 more , his entire career ?

#onebuffalo

I don’t know. Depends on how Beane compares each draft class. More likely, the deal wasn’t exactly as you describe it, or Beane did an assessment of what improvement he could get right now versus cost and decided no. Firing Beane would be dumb.

Explain how a 2026 1st isn't worth it but a 2027 1st is?

Hey, the US women won yesterday. His presumable rooting interests didn't go entirely 0-fer.

Beane had two possible trades lined up. DT Quinen Williams from Jets. WR Jaylon Waddle from Dolphins. Both teams in our division that we have been beating up for a long time. Both made it hard to close a deal. Beane worked it hard. He didn’t force it and take a bad deal. Realistically, they need more than 1 player to improve this team.

Happy Terry Pegula weekend.

Bills are looking like a middle tier team right now. Right on the heels of a big win over KC they lose in their division to a team that was breaking apart. McDermott and his staff failed to have them ready, similar to the Atlanta game where nothing worked on either side of the ball, both the game plan and the execution was lacking. Offense has become a problem. The Bills passing game has become Josh Allen scrambles and then hope he can find someone. Very few plays are drop back into a clean pocket, and fire to an open receiver 10+ yards deep. The WRs are a below average unit. Shakir is a good #3 slot guy. The rest are all below average players. At TE Kincaid is good, but not at the level of carrying an offense. Cook 3 is good, that’s about all we have in the backfield. Still, mostly because of Allen, the offense has been very good at times, going into this game they led all teams in offensive yards per game. Yet the underlying feel is the OC is holding them back. I think Brady has been figured out and is running out of chess moves. Defense played great against KC but was bad again today. Bad tackling, not enough QB pressure, missed tackles at the LOS that resulted in huge runs. Hairston is showing us what close coverage looks like, he is a bright spot and probably will be the best player on this defense soon. With Benford and Taron Johnson out they are really lacking. Tre White was bad and should retire after the season, DB depth is not good enough. The LBs did not contribute, Milano and Bernard are no longer a factor. The DTs have been ravaged with injury and Miami took advantage, and not having Epenesa at DE hurt. It looked like MCD took over the defensive play calls. This is looking like a wild card team that needs some retooling. Still a lot of football left but they lost another game in the standings to NE today.

So word is out. the Dolphins wanted a 2026 1st rounder for Waddle and Beane would only offer a 2027 poetic that Waddle caught that long TD off our first round pick today #FireBeane. His time has come and gone

And just to add, a big point of pulling the goalie and getting an extra skater is to put extra pressure on the opposing team and to create a sense of urgency when the puck is on an opponent's stick. Pulling the goalie early if you're the Eulers with McDavid and Draisatl out there has a logic to it; they do create an urgency on the opponent. Does anyone see the Sabres create an urgency / pressure on their opponents when THEY pull the goalie with 3 minutes to go? They don't get that urgency until the clock is actually running out. At some point, it would be nice for someone callling the shots to recognize that. Either get to a point where they can manufacture that artificial urgency or stop trying to do so. But just going through the motions is as stupid as dropping the puck back on the PP simply to drop the puck back on the PP.

Disaster of a game.

Well, yes. It ROUTINELY blows up in their faces. Do you really need to see more evidence before coming to that same conclusion?

You have to realize your argument is based on a premise that since they are pathetic at 6 on 5 it's not worth trying early. I mean, that's the Sabres in a nutshell.

When is the last friggin' time they scored in the 1st minute of having pulled the goalie when down by 1 with 3 or so minutes left. The Sabres regularly DON'T score in that situation. The opponent regularly does. Why make the game unwinnable before you get the extra pressure of the final minute or so working against the opponent. Get THEM to grip their stilcks tight too. And, again, realize the analytics say to pull the goalie early. BUT you have to factor in the players YOU actually have and not just look at some generalized thought process. (Heck, even you yourself point out the flaw in the Sabres pulling the goalie early - "you need to win that face off and you need to send that extra man to the front of the net." The Sabres DON'T do either. (Whether it's a matter of philosophy or merely execution doesn't really matter; at the end of the day, they do neither.)) Now, if Norris, Benson, and Zucker were all available, then it MIGHT make sense to pull the goalie so early; but it doesn't make sense to do so with who they actually can send out there.

Allen was sabotaged by the gameplan today. It's obvious that the only plan was to be more physical than the Dolphins. When Miami pushed back, there was nothing in the playcalling, scheme, or personnel to help him.

Josh is trying to carry this team on his shoulders. He is not the problem.